4 July, 2012 -- Advanced geospatial technology is crucial if Australian utilities are to tackle the industry’s biggest challenges, according to a leading international geo-utilities expert.

Bill Meehan, Global Director for Utilities at Esri – the world’s largest GIS software company – was in Australia this week to address the region’s top utilities on the issue of spatially enabling their senior management.

Speaking at the Smart Electricity World Australasia conference in Melbourne yesterday, the published author and distinguished academic called on utilities leaders to think outside the box when using GIS technology.

“Utilities have spent millions converting old, legacy mapping systems to modern GIS applications as a basis for asset and outage management, or for network design,” Mr Meehan said.

“However, GIS technology has enormous value well beyond engineering and operations departments – it can literally transform a utility.

“Utilities must take a more strategic approach to solve the big problems they currently face.

“When augmented with historic data – such as records of outages or maintenance works – reasons behind low customer satisfaction become much clearer.

“GIS technology’s powerful analytical ability can reveal the relationships between where and why customers are dissatisfied – perhaps in the form of a vocal minority who have experienced above average rates of outages within a short time frame.

“This understanding ensures solutions are crafted that focus on areas of greatest need – such as targeted community meetings or educational programs – instead of misinformed ad-hoc or scattergun approaches.”